Revitalizing Sustainability: Asphalt Materials and US Aggregates Unite in Pallet Reusing Initiative 

Heritage Construction + Materials companies Asphalt Materials, Inc. (AMI) and US Aggregates have joined together to build a program that finds new ways to reuse AMI’s pallets at US Aggregates’ locations.  

This initiative keeps AMI from recycling their pallets through a third-party vendor, as well as from being discarded. It also aids in increasing efficiency amongst US Aggregates since the pallets will be received through an internal company.   

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The Role of Pavement Preservation Enhancing the Sustainability of Road Infrastructure

Pavement preservation is a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way to extend the life of your roadways and make public funding go further. A well-implemented pavement preservation approach achieves maximum efficiency by increasing the average condition of your pavement while decreasing your average spending per square yard. Pavement preservation treatments are known for their ability to ensure quality with minimal effect on your budget and the environment.

Pavement preservation is the core of our AMISEAL™ product line, including micro-surfacing, chip seal, scrub seal, slurry seal, cape seal, and more.

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HRG Spotlight: Cold in Place Recycling Technology Delivers Morgan County Residents a Rehabilitated Road

During 2022, County Engineer Tony Hinkle reached out to Heritage Research Group (HRG), to have Waverly Park Road in Morgan County, Indiana, be sampled for a potential recycling project. The results from pavement sampling determined that the road was a candidate for a 4-inch Cold In-place Recycling (CIR) treatment. Based on the report’s recommendations, Hinkle made the decision to move forward with the CIR treatment to repair and preserve the pavement.  

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Asphalt Magazine: A Complete Approach to Pavement Sustainability

Pavement sustainability continues to be one of the most crucial areas of research in the asphalt industry. While it is common to understand sustainability in a purely environmental context, truly sustainable products and innovations also have positive economic and social implications. 

Below, industry sustainability thought leader and Sustainability Engineer at the Asphalt Institute, Dr. Chait Bhat, details the appropriate scope for comparing Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) per the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards language in Asphalt Magazine. His article follows a previous article from Dr. Mark Buncher covering the appropriateness of comparing material EPDs. 

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AMI supplies high-quality materials for CCAP® in Morgan County, Indiana

Agencies are seeking cost-effective and sustainable solutions to make roads last longer. This is why the Heritage Research Group (HRG), Asphalt Materials Inc. (AMI), Milestone Contractors, and US Aggregates are all working together in a One HC+M project to figure out how to make the strongest, most sustainable, and cost-efficient asphalt mix in the Midwest region. One solution the team has found that is not only cost efficient, but sustainable and durable, is Cold-Construction Asphalt Pavement (CCAP®).  

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HRG Spotlight: Building a More Sustainable Business With CIR Tech

In August of 2022, a project took place in Martinsville, IN with our Cold-In-Place Recycling (CIR) technology.

CIR is a cost-effective and sustainable method of constructing a recycled asphalt-bound layer that reduces trucking and construction time and saves natural resources.  CIR is part of our AMICYCLE™ product portfolio, which also includes FDR (Full Depth Reclamation) and CCPR (Cold Central Plant Recycling). 

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Comparative LCA of VRAM Highlighted at TRB 2023 Annual Meeting

Washington, D.C.2023 Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting

The Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting was held in Washington, D.C. earlier this year. This year’s theme was Rejuvenation Out of Disruption: Envisioning a Transportation System for a Dynamic Future. The meeting included exhibitors from academia, industry, and government agencies presenting the latest research findings, technical developments, and implementation efforts within the asphalt industry. 

Asphalt Materials and HRG Labs had the unique opportunity to present two different posters at this year’s Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting in early January.

Impact of Rumble Strips on Longitudinal Joint Pavement Performance

Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of a Void Reducing Asphalt Membrane
and Other Longitudinal Joint Treatments

In 2021, ClimeCo collaborated with Asphalt Materials, Inc. (AMI) to complete an LCA-based sustainability assessment of J-Band®, AMI’s void reducing asphalt membrane (VRAM) product. Together, ClimeCo and AMI wrote and presented their paper and poster titled, “Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of a Void Reducing Asphalt Membrane and Other Longitudinal Joint Treatments” at this year’s TRB Annual Meeting.

Caroline Kelleher of ClimeCo explains the sustainability benefits of VRAM.

Caroline Kelleher and Gary Yoder from ClimeCo, Gerry Huber of HRG, and Todd Thomas from AMI are the paper’s authors. During the meeting, many attendees came by to learn more about the three sustainability attributes of J-Band: environmental, economic, and social (safety).

Caroline Kelleher of ClimeCo and Todd Thomas of AMI attended the 2023 TRB Annual Meeting.

Important conclusions of this paper include the following:

  • There is significant potential to develop transportation infrastructure in line with the principles of sustainable development
  • Sustainability is an increasingly important component of transportation infrastructure, with federal, regional, and state entities having a range of awareness and education programs, all while promoting the use of ‘green’ or sustainable roadway products.
  • Upstream emissions associated with materials production are outside the carbon accounting of direct emissions, i.e., scope three instead of scope one emissions, and thus, as agencies and contractors look to reduce their scope one emissions, they will be evaluating methods and materials which will allow for a reduction in fuel usage.
  • Longitudinal joint solutions that offer the lowest application-phase emissions, reduced maintenance needs, and extended road lifetimes, will result in the lowest scope one emissions. In this analysis, VRAM and joint adhesive have the lowest construction phase emissions.
  • VRAM had the most economical life cycle cost performance compared to conventional joints and maintenance.

To read this paper, poster, other studies, and educational items about VRAM and J-Band, click the Resources link below.

Sustainability is very important to Asphalt Materials, Heritage Construction + Materials, and The Heritage Group. There are three pillars of sustainability: Economic. Environmental. Social/Safety.

Understanding Sustainability, LCAs, Cradle-to-Grave . . . and More!

There are many sources that use 3 pillars to help explain sustainability. But, explaining the three pillars of sustainability first requires defining sustainability. The concept of sustainability arose from environmental activism. It’s taken to mean making sure that the current generation can meet its needs without making it impossible for future generations to meet theirs. That is, we can sustain ourselves and posterity only with practices that do no future harm.1

We often hear talk about social sustainability, economic sustainability, and environmental sustainability. If we think of sustainability as the roof of a building that protects its occupants, we see that it takes all three pillars to hold it up. Sometimes people summarize them with the words people, profit, and planet. Weakness in any one pillar puts the roof in danger of collapsing. 1

Although the phrase “three pillars of sustainability” is common, one of the most helpful descriptions explains how they relate to each other via a Venn diagram. It comes closer to the related term “three spheres of sustainability.” In either case, no one of them can function optimally without both of the others as shown below.1

A Life Cycle Assessment
A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), offers a framework for quantifying the potential environmental impacts of a product from cradle–to–grave (i.e., from growth/extraction of raw material inputs all the way through a product’s disposal), allowing us to make that determination. One of the many applications of an LCA is its ability to demonstrate the environmental benefits achieved by adopting different operational practices.

In February 2022, Gary Yoder and Jaskaran Sidhu wrote a story titled ‘What is a Life Cycle Assessment?’ This informative article highlights important information such as:

  • A Product’s Competitive Edge: Performance and Cost
  • Benefits of Product vs. Alternatives
  • Quantified GHGs and criteria air pollutants (AQ)
  • Using LCAs for a More Sustainable Future

To read the entire article, follow the link below:

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CIR to be Featured at The 2023 AEMA-ARRA-ISSA Annual Meeting 

Members of the Asphalt Materials, Heritage Construction & Materials and Heritage Research Labs teams will be attending this year’s AEMA-ARRA-ISSA  Annual Meeting.  

Recycling, sustainability and the circular economy are all important topics that businesses and industries are engaged with.  

With today’s infrastructure, reuse of valuable existing resources is a critical component in a pavement manager’s arsenal. According to research, the advanced technologies used in recycling and reclamation processes can provide major benefits such as: significant cost savings, lowered environmental impact, and precision engineering for stronger, safer, more sustainable roads. 

It is important to remember that, existing asphalt pavements contain the raw materials for new roads. Rarely replaced, asphalt pavements are either repaired or recycled. 

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